


I'll Follow You Into the Dark

by Im_AtSoup



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Amputation, Angst, Apocalypse, Based on a Tumblr Post, Blood and Gore, Boys Kissing, Boys' Love, Credit to Emuyh-art, Drabble, Fluff, Inspired By Tumblr, Kissing under the covers, M/M, Making Up, Mild Gore, Promises, Slightly Inspired by Last of Us, Struggle, Tears, Twenty-four year old Keith, Twenty-three year old Lance, crying in the rain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2018-12-22 09:30:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11964600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Im_AtSoup/pseuds/Im_AtSoup
Summary: || I feel so bad for taking so long on Adopting the Stray guys. I've been trying really hard to finish up this chapter but I keep hitting walls through out it. I'd rather take a long time then rush and give you another short, typo filled chapter Dx so I'm so so sorry for my radio silence and lack of updating.As a weak form of apology I offer you Apocalyptic Klance ~ it's based off of Emuyh-art's gorgeous freaking Zombie comic. You should go check it out on Tumblr or Twitter under that name. Amazing art man. Again, thank you for your patience with my idiocy. It's been a very hard couple of months for me unfortunately.





	1. Chapter 1

 

He knew that he was in the wrong here. This was an effect to a cause that he had chosen to create as soon as he shoved Keith back there in that blasted forest. _Choosing_ to push him out of range from the reaching hands of an abnormal crawler. Taking on that bite to the meat of his leg instead of the ravenette himself. This was by his doing. He had put himself in this position souly on the fact that he had wanted to guard Keith's life. Preserve it by making sure he went more unscathed then what he already was.

So why was he acting like Keith was the monster here?

There was no reason for it and yet everytime he saw those hands? He picture them covered in blood. _His_ blood as the other survivor cut through his skin and bone with his knife to sever the infection before it spread any further up his leg. Killing him.

The bite had been inflicted on his calf almost an entire day out from the damn that their group along with other clusters of survivors had claimed as a sort of safe heaven. It was the closest thing they had to a home and in Lance's opinion? It was beautiful. The forest was thick and smelled fresh with natural life that went unaffected by the carnage and horror the rest of the world was suffering from. Their little society was nestled safely away from it all. Seemingly out in the middle of no where. Where they could hunt game on horseback and raise their own sort of gardens within the safety of their walls. Sometimes they even had the comfort of power. When Hunk and Pidge were able to work with the others and get the genoraters running for a while. Until weathering took them back down again and a party had to be formed to go out and work on the Dam's power sights to repair it. Which wasn't always a trip that went smoothly. Being out here? The danger of being overwhelmed by the infected didn't come often. Their base of sorts had been isolated to begin with and once the crew had cleaned it all out, checking every inch of the place for spore growth and the insane, it became safe.

Every once in a while however. They had a wave of the infected from distant neighboring towns work their way into the forest. Special teams went out to cut them down before they managed to reach their home's walls and overwhelmed the defenses there. No one wanted to loose the heaven they had created and no one could really afford to either. Not when _families_  were being sheltered there. Kind hearted and generous people who worked day in and day out to assure that they could survive on what they had.

This had been he and Keith's job.

They had volunteered eagerly to take on the task of scouting ahead to pick off a wave that had been spotting during a hunting party's venture back in. Lance just hadn't expected for their to be so many infected beings. It was a miracle that they even survived at all and made it back in one piece to be honest. His life was in debt to those gloved hands. The same ones that had carried him all the way back to the safety of their home and into the waiting hands of their friends who jumped to spare his life from intense amounts of blood loss. He was very lucky to of woken up after the terrible expierence. Breathing regularly and able to speak and think normally despite the trauma of having your leg amputated on the field with no form of medical supplies outside of his own jeans being tied and knotted at the end to try and stop the bleeding. So why was he scared of him?

Lance sat out at one of their own spots. Over looking the fenced off and protected pasture where they kept the horses. He could barely see the mare he had raised himself from here because his eyes were watering so bad. Hands clutching at the front of his jeans while he sat in an old fold out chair that was propped up atop the wall of the power plant. The other one that was just to his right? Painfully empty in the absence of Keith. They use to sit up here for hours when it was their turn to watch the pasture and make sure the horses were safe. Animals couldn't get infected and turn onto flesh eating monsters but that didn't mean that they still couldn't die from the natural order of things such as crafty wolves or coyotes. No one dared to kill any of the wild life out here if they didn't have to. They sort of added to the comfort of things. Making their life seem normal when you could hear wolves howling at night and birds singing in the morning.

There was no Keith though.

Because he had chased him away with his finicky behavior. Subjected the man to feeling like a beast for doing what he thought was right in the panic of the moment. He didn't mean to do it. Lance didn't aim to make the other think such a thing, but the flash backs came everytime he saw that fierce boy and it almost terrified him. Contradicting the intense need to see him again. Lance wanted nothing more then to have him at his side again, like before because when Keith was around? Everything felt so normal again. Like they were on an extended camping trip instead of living out here like freaking farmers that were armed to the teeth and ready to kill for the sake of living.

"You messed it up -- " He sniffed, oblivious to the door that slid open almost twenty feet away. Ignorant of the the distant thunder from the dark grey clouds and blind to the tranquility he could of had..

If he was able to get over the ugly presence of the metal crutch laying on the ground just beside his chair that is. This was the first time he had been out and about the premises on his own since loosing his leg. So he should of been at peace over doing something by himself for once. But the emptiness of it had never felt bigger until now. Drowning him in this misery of being broken and useless. A burden and an extra mouth to feed. A liability that would only get people killed when it came time to move fast and defend that grounds. He dropped his head into his hands with a shaky gasp. Heart aching at the realization that his only worth now, was going to be nothing but a meat shield. In this world you had to be strong to survive or else it would literally eat you alive. But he wasn't strong anymore...he was a broken link in their chain. Weaker then before.

His shoulders hiccuped as a sob forced it's way out of his throat just as the sky rumbled with deafening thunder. Hooves rumbled against the ground just below in fright while his tears gathered and fell. The first dribbles of water sprinkled onto the ground and before he could even protest? A strong arm was wrapping itself around his shoulders. Pulling him forwards into a well built chest with soft, sighing whispers. Lance didn't even struggle to resist..just, allow himself to be wrapped up in a presence that smelled like the earth. Mossy and with this leathery musk that he came to recognize as _him_.

Keith.

The last of him broke into pieces once he realized who had come for him up here, in their old spot. Where so many good memories had been built in these old tacky ass lawn chairs. A small drizzle turned into a full blown rain storm that poured heavily over them in its quite lull of pitter patter, but neither of them moved. Lance's fingers digging into the back of Keith's shirt as it began to stick to skin from the water. While the other man cradled his head against his collar bone, letting him curl up and hide away from it all for just a little while. Become safe whole he fell apart until there was nothing left to be torn apart. When everything was raw and exshausted? He'd have to get back up again..if he could.

" I'm, so -- so sorry, Lance." Keith mumbled thickly, deep voice straining at an even lower octave then usual. It was then, that Lance realized that he to was letting his tears mingle in the cover of rain. He was hurting..just as much as Lance was with this loss. Because he had been the one to do it. To take his leg while the Cuban male had screamed and cried for him to stop. Just...stop because it had hurt to fucking bad and there simply had to be another way. There was always a way. That's what their group leader Shiro said right? He had been so blind in fear that he didn't really understand that the only way he could go after a bite to the leg was amputation before the infection spread to his mind and drove him insane. But Keith had. His brother had gone through the same shit after all when he had been bitten in the arm. Having to go through this twice? Must of been crippling and yet he had for the sake of saving Lance's life and he...well, he had been so awful in response. Anxious and distant because all he could see when he looked into those pained grey-violet eyes was the reflection of his own bloody body when he had taken the limb off. Lance squeezed his arms around the man's middle with a choked gasp. He had made this man believe that he hated him for something that couldn't be helped and what did Keith do? Make that first move and come to him when he was at his worst...just like he always fucking had.

"Don't -- please don't leave me behind, Keith." he cried out over the rain.

The ravenette nodded reassuringly, brushing the tips of his fingers against Lance's high cheek bone. Using the same fingers that had cut through muscle, flesh and bone to preserve his life. But Lance didn't shy away from them this time. Instilling the protection and comfort that he knew they could provide into his system. Remembering them for their gentle touch and welcoming heat. For the mesmerized way they use to trace his every defining contour in the dead of night when they were alone. For their unwavering grip on the handle of a lengthy blade with the full intent of safe guarding a life by throwing himself into danger. He remembered them for the way they brushed his mare's mane and fur on easy days. For picking wild berries with him by the streams when it was safe. For folding ridiculous amounts of clothes as punishment when they were being a bother to the others that lived here. Most of all...he remember these hands for always been available when he sought them out for strength.

"I won't. I -- promise I won't ever, leave you behind.." Keith murmured fiercly into the soaked strands of Lance's hair as he kissed at his temple. Jaw clenched around all of the rage and pain that he wanted to vent out for the treachery that he had committed. The ravenette knew that some thing had been broken between them. Some thing vital and when one got down to the nitty gritty facts of It? Lance had PTSD. Developed from the horror of having to listen to a blade driven by his own sweaty hand clack against bone with disgusting wet sloshing sounds until it'd been broken and removed. 

Lance had post traumatic stress disorder..that revolved around Keith. Because he had decided to selfishly take matters into his own hands right then for a lack of what to do. With limited resources the options were few and he had done what he thought was best. Keith, couldn't let Lance go. He couldn't of allowed him to slowly loose his mind over the course of a few days before falling prey to the infection. He just, couldn't loose him at all. 

This boy who originally hailed from Cuba was Keith's salvation in more ways then one. He had been the light that managed to bring back his humanity in a world where rules inly went so far. Where the crazy ran the streets in packs that hunted whatever uninfected innocent they could find like dogs for nearly no reason at all. That had been Keith. Post Lance, he had been heartless. Only driven to take care of just himself and Shiro. No one else because when the small town they had been living in truly began to loose function and fall apart that's all he had. No one else gave to shits about whether or not he was alive nor dead. No one but himself, and the man who had all but adopted him as his half brother. 

It was Lance who reminded him of the fact that they were human. Full of emotions like compassion for one another. Joy for finding jackpots instead of greed. Love over looking at the others in a group at night while they slept soundly under your watchful eye. It was this man who had taught him that it was okay to accept help. Open up his doors and allow those who were willing to come inside and form a special pack of their own. Never before had he had so many people in his circle that he cared about until he met Lance and he had him to thank for that. In this harsh world that they had adapted to living in it was dangerous to make yourself vulnerable to bonds. Because they didn't always last. But Lance had given him the tools to understand that when you had something good? You enjoyed it until it expired. No matter how big or small it was and in that one moment? Keith hadn't been ready for Lance to expire and leave his life for good. He, just..he wasn't capable of it. The man had become something important to him over the short two years that he had known him. 

Not only was he a dear friend, but a partner in every since of the word and he wasn't going to just let him go that easily. People outside of himself needed Lance just as much to. This goofball brought light into everyone's lives within these walls. He made it seem normal. Light hearted and even fun dare he say. Chores to ensure their survival turned into games that had scoreboards amongst everyone involved. Kids loved this man to death and parents were more then thankful to have someone around who could give them a simple taste of the good life before everything had been lost in this mess nearly fifty years ago. Before their generation. They needed Lance. He needed Lance..so he wasn't going to ever leave him behind. 

 

"I'll be here..beside you, no matter what." he whispered into kiss swollen lips in the solitude of their shared room. 

Beneath the covers hours later. The rain still poured outside but they paid it no mind. Blue and Purple never straying from each other for longer then a few moments at a time. Keith traced his thumb back and forth against the hip his hand rested on. A pair of soft blankets covering them up to their shoulders in the quiet of their room. Burning the feeling of Lance's smooth skin into the forefront of his mind while the other? Reminded himself of the refuge that he had almost lost. 

The sun kissed male had himself tucked into Keith's chest as much as his position would allow. Arms folded between then to make himself smaller then he truly was while he teased gently at the ends of his jet black hair. They'd have to change positions soon to keep Lance from feeling pain due to the way they lay here facing each other. But he didn't mind. 

Keith would wake every hour on the dot to readjust Lance in his sleep to ensure that he was comfortable if he had to. Currently they had a pillow resting between his thighs. Keeping his still tender, stump..supported. The bandages were due for another changing tomorrow and the wounds needed checking again. Healing from loosing a limb was a long process. One that he had hated being kept from but he couldn't of approached Lance before now. Not when he was so, scared to even look at him. 

"Promise..?" Lance murmured, words slurring as he stole another soft and lazy kiss from Keith. He was slowly succumbing to the effects of the drug he'd taken early for pain. One of the few left of its kind. Matt and Shiro had truly pulled off a miracle by finding the hydrocodone for him to take. It was no more then fifteen in the bottle to start with. So a majority of the time the male had to just suffer through the pain until it got bad enough that he couldn't take it anymore. They still have twelve pills. 

"I promise..cross my heart." he assured, pressing a final kiss into those tender lips with a soft breath of content through his nose. The response was slow to come and for a moment he didn't think Lance was awake at all. But he huffed quietly with a chuckle. That warm smile spreading across his dimly light features. 

"I love you..i've always loved you, Keith." 

His eyes blurred for the second time today. He knew that Lance wasn't pulling his leg under the influence of pain medication because when he looked into those ocean blue eyes? He saw nothing but earnest, honest to god warmth. 

"..love you too, Lance." 


	2. The Death of Keith, Kogane..

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [ I created a second chapter. Hopefully it is as good as the amazing art this is inspired from!   
> Thank you Emyuh for your work <3 ]

Keith didn't once fall through on the promises that he had made that night. In the comfort of their sheets, trapped within their own little bubble of peace. Something that they all knew very well, was a feat that was hard to acquire.

Lance never went anywhere without Keith at his side from that night forth. Whether he asked for the man's company through a short venture across the grounds or when he desperately needed it the most during restless nights. Where the pain became so much that he woke up screaming from the ghosts of his nerves being severed by the desperate bite of a knife. _His_  knife. It was during instances where he was rubbing Lance's back while the Cuban descent threw up the contents of his stomach that the guilt of it all arose once more. Eating away at his chest when he kneaded his fingers into soft brown skin to try and ease the tension knots that formed in his thigh. Reduce the swelling down to a point that he could comfortably handle having his sleeve on. A cut strip of spandex from the leg of a pair of yoga pants that were a size smaller then Lance himself. To keep the stump compacted like one would after a normal amputation procedure. Keith never truly forgave himself for the nastiness of his actions that day. It came to haunt him in the night through nightmares. It came to taunt him during the day when he had to see the hastily chopped down stump in all its unclothed glory when he had collected enough water to give Lance a chance to soak in a warm bath. It came to punch him in the chest every time met his gaze with eyes so full of love and adoration despite everything that had happened in the past and up to the present. Lips aghast and cheeks flushed in the dim lighting that the full moon gave in the darkness of their room as Keith chased away the dull pain by giving everything he had in body and soul to this man. Guiding his hips as they gyrated atop his own, building them both up and up and up until the came tumbling back down from the high of sweet pleasure. It tormented him as he lay in silence shortly after. Eyes blurring up with unshed emotion while Lance lay against his chest. Breathing ease for once.   
Keith hated what he had done. But if he had the choice to act differently in that faithful moment then he wouldn't of given it a second thought. Because even though the bad times sometimes weighed out the good? It was worth his own emotional weight to watch this man _live_  life to the fullest every day he was able to. With time Lance was able to get around the compound himself with the use of a cane they had looted during one of their runs into the neighboring towns for supplies. On those occasions he could easily be found out in the fenced in pastures. Resting his cheek against the coarse fur of his treasured mare, Blue while she chomped on fresh grass. With Keith's own horse plucking at the shoulder of his shirt to vibe for his attention like a needy pup. All until Lance laughed, loosing the battle and somehow getting Red to allow him to hug her long snout. Warming the ache in his chest with spots of absolute adoration while he watched the fucking love of his life whisper words into a temperamental horse's ear. Like they were sharing the secrets of the universe to one another. Speaking only in a way that Lance and those two creatures could understand.

Keith stuck by through thick and thin. Lifting Lance up when he couldnt do it on his own somedays. He was there to be the wind beneath his wings when they rode through the forested hills together. Chasing the high of a simple life in one another's company. Enjoying the sun beating on their backs through the canopy. Laughing by the river side with a handful of berries to share between the two of them. Lance became his world, and he did everything in his power to make sure that life shined brightly on him. Through thick and thin and to the very end.

...even when the virus took hold of his mind completely. Swallowing him up with its madness and morphing him into one of the very monsters that plagued this damn planet beyond their years. He came back to him......

No one could explain how a Walker managed to get inside the compound. Or how it even shuffled it's way along the sleeping quarters without going unnoticed by the mere sound of it's broken steps. Boots heavy as every step fell hard in its lifeless amble to the one place instinct had driven it to. _Home._

Chaos insued when the groggling snarl of the Walker broke the tension in the dining room they were all horded into. Desperately trying to get on the same page so a search and rescue mission could properly begin. Keith had been missing for a full month and a few days by then. The rest of his raid party had come back with loot but carrying the guilt conscious that something had gone very very wrong. With enough pressure from Shiro? They broke and admitted that in their fear? They shoved Keith down a flight of stairs to make way for their own escape. Knowing or at least believing that the ace knife wielder would survive and meet them back outside. Or at least that's what they thought before it was told that when they turned their back on the ravenette? He was clutching his leg from having terribly sprained it. They left him there to act as a distraction. They used him to save their own hides for another day. Leaving him to go through the painful process of turning with no way to save himself _alone._  Without the company of the family he had found in them to ease him into death instead of an animated state. Locked in his own body without conscious thoughts. Just that never ending desire to sedate the fire of hunger in his belly. Murdered. That had been the first time that word had been given to someone by Lance when the story was fully told and he found himself jumping across the table to thrust his fist into the man who had done it. Hurting both himself and the other boy in the process when his leg gave to the attempt. They three raiders where forced out with nothing but a back pack of their own personal belongings, and a few pipes to protect themselves from danger with. Nothing more and nothing less but already forgotten as the seasoned group of friends plotted under the lamp light. Planning a retrieval that in the very end was useless. Because Keith had come back to them on his own. Breaking the tense silence in the room with a cry for hunger.

That day, even still, Keith had fulfilled his promise to him by finding his way back to his side once more. Lance felt all of the breath leave him in one swift blow when the ravenette, clad in a simple red shirt and with no kind of protective gear ontop of that to boot, came stumbling through the double doors. His eyes no longer had any color to them. That beautiful stormy mixture of greys and violets having faded into a foggy white. The amount of bites that litter his arms and peeked through the tears in his black jeans was sickening enough that they were all stunted into place. Yelling out at one another in hysterics while their Keith shuffled deeper into the large room. His stupid button nose that Lance had always teased him for being turned up, nostrils flaring at the scent of live flesh. No one knew what to do and yet it was obvious in what they had to do. Pidge was the first to scramble for her weapon. But Shiro jerked it from her hands and threw it to the side where it was out of reach. Sliding across the tile floor until it stopped by Lance. His watering eyes fell to it and the noise around him went silent as the blood in his system rushed forth. Matt was tugging Pidge further back into the room. Hunk was yelling for someone to help him while he fought to restrain Shiro. Who was screaming at the top of his lungs to be let go. So he could go and talk sense to his little kid brother through bond. Allura had taken to walking Coran around the edges of the room to avoid Keith's racking fingers and here he sat. Unable to breath as he reached down to pick up the simple pistol. His hands shook so damn bad that he wasnt surr he was even going to be able to use it properly. Numb. Icy....and empty were all that he felt when he had to stand to his full height. Using the wall to support his weight while he forced the muzzle of the gun to take aim. Lance blinked away his tears multiple times as people started to call his name. All yelling at once for him to do something. 

_"I'm sorry, baby..."_

One shot rang out. Followed by another. Blood spurted from the wounds in his back in clotted blobs that looked to thick for him to of only died recently. There for he had been gone from this world for more then a week or two. Meaning while they had waited here? Pacing back and forth to here some kind of word that was delivered by the mouth of Keith's murderers? The boy lost himself.

Lance clenched his teeth when the raven haired beauty before him slowly turned to give his attention to him alone. Drawn by the pressure of bullets entering his broken body with a growl that sounded wet. Cracked lips parting to bare blood stained teeth at him because he was unable to comprehend that these were his friends. That the man he was now dragging himself towards was his lover. "I-I wish I could of been there..I w-wish.." he stammered, never darting his eyes away from his partner even as Pidge screamed at him to take the shot. To do anything at all to end this. He took a shuttering breath and almost choked on the stench of death that clung to Keith. Trying to make himself focus on the fact so he would have the strength to pull that trigger one more time. But the curve of Keith's thick brows as they tilted in, looking almost perplexed, made him freeze.

**_ "...La..........nnce.. -- " _ **

Third shot fired. Drilling into his skull right between the eyes, causing his head to clock back from the force of it. For a terrifying moment no one moved. No one breathed. Not until Keith's chin tilted back down and those sightless eyes wavered about the room as the body titled forwards towards the floor with a resounding thud. Followed shortly by the clatter of Pidge's gun when it left Lance's shaking fingers.

"Keith!!" he cried, falling to the floor in his attempt to get to downed boy. He was only vaguely aware of the fact that someone called his name brokenly. But he didn't care. Didnt stop moving across the tile until his outstretched hand back the broken one of Keith's. Entangling their fingers together while his shoulders jumped with the beginnings of a broken sob. Lance felt cold. There was no heat in Keith's body anymore. No life to be noted and yet he had _still come back home to him._

It was only fair that he kept his promises to. By being the one to take Keith down when it happened..

Lance rest his cheek against the cold floor and wailed. Crying for their lost friend. Their brother in this life, and his lover. Pidge's hands found their way to his shoulders and he was lifted enough to be tucked into the comfort of her chest while it hiccuped with tears. Hunks hand came to rest on his head as he crouched down to sit beside him. All blubbering sobs. The others stood frozen where they were. Watching as a pair of young adults mourned over the loss of a boy their exact age. A _child_  who should of been laughing over a rare bowl of cereal. Not, laying stomach down with his face titled out. Still looking utterly perplexed while Lance held onto his unmoving hand for dear life. Wishing with all of his might that that he would just squeeze back. Just give him a sign. Laugh and say that it was all a well thought out joke of sorts. But none of that happened.

They later buried Keith's ashes in the fields with the horse's. Just beneath the large cluster of oak trees that he and Lance use to sometimes find shelter in. Each of them kept some sort of form of Keith with them after that. Shiro with his knife, it was later recovered from the sight of his inevitable infection in the next town over almost a year later and at random.   
Hunk with the tools that Keith had gathered for him over the week that he was gone during the raid. Pidge with the saddle that he use to breeze across the earth on with red. Matt and the damn pocket watch depicting such a childish cartoon front. While Lance? He kept the room they use to share. Had his locket full of his family's pictures clamped tightly shut with a dust of the ash held within, and the old casset player to fill his ears with music that Keith had been fond over in the following weeks to come. It was never enough though. The sheets stopped smelling of Keith, and his shirts no longer brought familiar comfort when Lance held them up to his face and prayed for his forgiveness. Yet Keith even after death had somehow managed to bring Lance the ultimate freedom. That night after they had essentially calmed down and inspected the body? They all noticed for the first time since Keith had entered the room that he had been holding a series of leather harnesses. After prying it free from his dead grasp they discovered it was the perfect skeleton for holding together a make shift prosthetic. It was strapped resting against the far wall now. Never kept that far from Lance at any given point seeing as how it was the last major thing that Keith had brought to him. Hunk and Pidge alongside the advice of Coran were able to make a simplistic leg for Lance. Using the leather straps to hold together brackets and other necessary pieces to create odd but easy to maneuver prosthetic. It was heavy with its steps, not as smooth to bend like his flesh and blood leg. But the comfort of faux fur to help cushion his stump. The easy to unbuckle belt clasps, and the sleeve that he now wore allowed him to move as freely as he wished. Keith had kept his promise and gifted him with an immense amount of freedom in the process. Ensuring that Lance would never be left behind again in the future. Ever.

_"I miss you, mullet.."_


End file.
